Eurobites: Nokia Appoints New Fixed Networks Supremo

In today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia names new fixed networks chief and completes sale of IP video unit; merger of T-Mobile and Tele2 in the Netherlands signed and sealed; Sigfox helps save the rhino.

Nokia has appointed Sandra Motley the new president of its Fixed Networks business group, succeeding Federico Guillén, who is now the vendor's president of Customer Operations, EMEA & APAC. Motley began her career at AT&T Bell Labs but joined Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) in 2016 and has most recently been the COO of the Fixed Networks group. For more details, and a video interview with Motley, see this story on Light Reading's sister site, Broadband World News.

In other Nokia news, the Finnish vendor has completed the sale of its IP video business to Canadian investment firm Volaris, a deal it announced last September. Nokia will remain a minority shareholder in Velocix , the Volaris subsidiary that will operate as an independent streaming technology business within the wider group. Financial details of the sale are not being disclosed. (See Just Like Ericsson, Nokia Flogs Majority Stake in Its Video Biz.)

The merger between Tele2 and T-Mobile in the Netherlands has been completed, with Tele2's Dutch unit being absorbed by the equivalent chunk of T-Mobile. Tele2 will own 25% of the enlarged T-Mobile NL, with Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) owning the remainder. Deutsche Telekom paid €190 million ($216 million) to seal the deal, but hopes to realize annual cost savings of about €150 million ($169 million) within three years of closing the deal, which had initially faced objections from the European Commission. (See EC Signs Off Tele2, T-Mobile Merger in Netherlands

Sigfox , the French IoT connectivity specialist, is doing its bit for wildlife by developing a tiny tracking device that can be inserted in the horns of rhinos to help conservationists monitor them. As Reuters reports, the sensors can send an alert to park rangers when rhinos are about to enter an area known to be at risk from poachers.